“I am not a front-line activist: I do not feel drawn to crisis management or firefighting styles of work. Using the Conflict Resolution paradigm, I am not drawn to working against direct violence, but working against structural violence.” In contrast, for Martin, “probably the biggest influence is in the way I relate to people acceptance and compromise. I am more attentive to other people’s needs.” For Steve, JVC helped him to be realistic rather than idealistic about his sense of direction: “JVC gave me a sense of what I am good at: although I like working with people, I am good at procedural and strategic work. It was a stretching and opening-up experience.” Perhaps the most striking synchronicity was on the integration between reflection and action. Paola’s study-life balance is different now - much more personcentred. She points out that service and study benefit from reciprocity: “Service is really important, but the better you understand, the more effectively you can act.” Patrick strongly confirmed this: “Since JVC, I have more first-hand experience of poverty and social exclusion. Not only do I have a greater understanding, but I also don’t aspire to be academically objective about these issues. Academia is just one way to relate to people’s lives - it cannot be a panacea, or a magic bullet with the answer to society’s problems. Volunteering at the Booth Centre gave me a different way of relating to people’s lives from the theoretical I had encountered.” I claimed above that these former volunteers are agents of change. What kind of change? Lorna explained that “working with refugees brought me close to current human experiences, not least how our own state colludes in the
perpetuation of human suffering. This caused me to think deeply about how change can be brought about, and what kind of change I want to be part of.” Peter described his sense of agency like this: “JVC and the MA I’m doing are both transformational, just as God is transformational. Where JVC showed me which direction to take, and transformed me, the course is showing me much more about being an agent of transformation for others.” So, thanks to these remarkable people, JVC has indeed come of age. With Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ (Superior General 1965-83), we believe that God is truly aligned with the powerless, the oppressed and the weak. So thank you to all the Jesuit Volunteers who have been so open to God and the poor; to all Jesuits, community partners, spiritual guides and staff who have accompanied volunteers on unpredictable journeys; to those who have generously shared their experiences of exclusion and deprivation with volunteers - the people we speak of as “poor” whom volunteers work alongside. And perhaps most of all, thank you to those who pray for Jesuit Volunteering. If volunteering gives us the opportunity to adopt this vision, to share in this allegiance, what can we do but be thankful?
• Steve – British - volunteered in Manchester, 2001-2; now finishing a Masters in Planning in Manchester. • Paola - from Mexico - JVC in Birmingham, 2004-5; now doing an MSc in Immunology and Immunogenetics in Manchester. • Lorna – British - a volunteer in Glasgow 2003-4; went on to do an MA in Conflict Resolution at Bradford’s Peace Studies department. • Martin - from Slovakia - JVC in Manchester, 2005-6 and now at Leeds doing an MA in The European Union and Development Studies. • Patrick - did the JVC Summer Programme when he left school; joined JVC in Manchester, 2007-8, following this with an MSc in Housing and Regeneration at LSE. • Peter - British, volunteered in Glasgow, 2004-5, and is finishing his MA in Conflict Resolution at Bradford.
Peter: “JVC Glasgow was a really excellent experience that took me out of my comfort zone but didn’t leave me feeling out of place.”
Steve and Jude: “We decided that the four values would be a keystone of our relationship, and we built our marriage ceremony around them.”
Lorna in Palestine: “I aspire to live, work, pray and play in my local community.”
Martin working one-to-one with John at the Booth Centre: “JVC helped me to understand people who approach things in a different way from me.”
Patrick: “The biggest impact was how I live and what I consume.”
www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Summer 2008 Jesuits & Friends
15